OVERVIEW

The lighting design in the community bathrooms and individual residence hall rooms at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, Colorado, was a technological maze after decades of partial upgrades and changeovers in maintenance staff. As part of a campus-wide initiative to update and improve lighting, Colorado State University worked with TerraLUX to retrofit 800 vanity lights with LED engines. The project was executed in several phases with work being completed in all residence halls on campus.Previously, the vanity lights operated using a system of fluorescent lamps, ballasts and tombstones. Not only was the lighting quality dim and unappealing, the dated technology and range of people performing maintenance on the lights over the years created problems that eventually resulted in a minor fire. By retrofitting the vanity lights with TerraLUX Linear LED Engines, CSU was able to eliminate three issues the University had been dealing with in regards to lighting: maintenance, cost and energy consumption.

Installation was rapid and noninvasive thanks to TerraLUX’s unique retrofit kit design that requires no rewiring. Each Linear LED Engine was simply installed with fasteners designed for the project and wired directly into the mains.

Work in one residence hall with 240 student rooms was expected to last four days, but the installation was complete in two. Two TerraLUX Linear LED Engines were installed in each vanity resulting in 480 lights being fully operational in less than 48 hours.
The project was rolled out in phases with a second residence hall of similar size being completed in January. A third, larger, residence hall with 450 student rooms was retrofitted last for a project total of 1,860 Linear LED Engines installed on campus.

One of the greatest benefits of choosing the TerraLUX Linear LED Engine for this retrofit was the option of rapid start ballasts. While rapid start ballasts are a higher cost than instant start ballasts, CSU needed a lighting solution that was compatible with its student usage demands, namely a solution that would work with a light that was frequently switched on an off. Instant start ballasts are not ideal for this type of use, motion control lights, panel control lights or light sensors. As a result, CSU opted for a higher product cost upfront to avoid having to replace ballasts in the future and incurring unnecessary maintenance costs related to purchasing new ballasts and time spent on installations.

Overall, CSU was very pleased with the aesthetic results of the TerraLUX retrofit. Student rooms are much brighter and the University expects to benefit from a reduced energy bill year over year as well.